While the medical world makes
technological advancements, it must not forget the power of love and
affection in helping those with autism and their families, said
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.
"Faced with the problems and difficulties that these children and their
parents encounter, the church proposes, with humility, an approach of
service to one's suffering brethren, accompanying them with compassion
and tenderness," he said. Parishes, Catholic associations, lay movements
and people of good will can all work together in providing such forms
of service, he said.
The archbishop, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care
Ministry, made his comments in a written message marking World Autism
Awareness Day April 2.
The stereotypes associated with those diagnosed with autism require
"profound revision," he said. Sometimes just the word -- autism --
"still generates fear today" even in cultures that have begun to accept
many kinds of disabilities, the archbishop said in his message.
Social stigmas already isolate people who are ill or disabled, making
them feel irrelevant or alien to the rest of the community, he said.
The solitude and loneliness evident in the larger culture are also
becoming "ever more present in modern health care," too, he said.
Health care in developed countries, while "perfect in its technical
aspects," he said, is "increasingly deprived of and not attentive to the
affective dimension, which instead should be the defining aspect of
every therapeutic action or approach."
Heath care workers need to avoid making a patient "feel like a number"
and instead concretely convey through their actions, attitudes and words
an affection and closeness to the patient and his or her family while
never losing sight of the whole person and his or her dignity, the
archbishop said.
"No procedure, no matter how perfect it may be, can be effective if it is deprived of the 'salt' of love," he said.
Bringing joy and peace to patients and their families, as well as
effective care, "is the best outcome that will enrich all of us," he
said.
Society and the local church need to look at ways they can welcome
autistic children and help these young people contribute to social,
educational, catechetical and liturgical activities in a way that
corresponds to each individual's unique capabilities, he added.